Warning to golf cart drivers: It's still illegal to cross U.S. 441 in Summerfield

Published: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 at 5:44 p.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 at 5:44 p.m.

A proposed golf cart crossing in south Marion County apparently has not been crossed off someone's to-do list.

Eleven months ago, the County Commission voted unanimously to ask state transportation planners to consider allowing golf carts to traverse U.S. 441 between two major senior-oriented subdivisions in Summerfield.

The residents wanted it and the commission was happy to oblige.

But what at first glance appeared to be a routine paper shuffle has now become a major bureaucratic exercise, and in the process is creating some headaches for local law enforcement.

Sheriff's deputies patrolling near the Stonecrest and Spruce Creek South communities are routinely telling people that it's still illegal to cross the highway in a golf cart, said Lt. Louis Pulford, the Sheriff's Office's district commander for that area.

Pulford said deputies are inclined to issue warnings and not tickets simply for a mistaken perception.

But, he added, the crossings are a continuing safety issue.

“Between a 3,000- or 4,000-pound car and golf cart, the golf cart is going to lose every time,” Pulford said.

The County Commission's vote last October authorized staff to send the Florida Department of Transportation a letter requesting a review of the plan.

The board was channeling the sentiment of a large segment of the community, as advocates presented at the time a 20-page petition supporting the crossing.

County Administrator Lee Niblock identified for FDOT two choices along U.S. 441, Southeast 175th Place and 178th Place.

The county, Niblock wrote, preferred 175th Place, and he invited FDOT to either agree that one of the sites was permissible or say whether a full traffic study was warranted.

In January, FDOT's local officials answered that Southeast 175th Place was suitable.

The “relatively uncongested” side roads meant golf cart drivers would not stack up during red lights, thus “providing increased potential for safe and comfortable golf cart travel” across the highway, wrote Richard Morrow, FDOT's traffic operations engineer for the district that includes Marion County.

Morrow rejected 178th Place because of congestion created by a nearby McDonald's, but said 175th Place was workable once the county, as the agency responsible for maintaining the traffic lights at the intersection, implemented longer wait times.

FDOT wanted the time interval when all of the traffic lights are simultaneously red increased from 2 seconds to 4.2 seconds.

The county and any owners of the streets, which are private, must also officially designate them as suitable for golf carts and post warning signs indicating that, Morrow added.

Morrow's letter further indicated that the County Commission had to adopt an ordinance approving the crossing for golf carts.

The board had done so in the past in allowing golf carts to cross streets in The Villages of Marion and the On Top of the World communities.

In March they enacted another one adding Southeast 175th Place to that list.

FDOT spokesman Steve Olson said in an email that the agency acknowledges it could allow a golf cart crossing at the site, “if local government desired.”

“It is up to local government to proceed if they wish to implement,” Olson said. “The next step is for Marion County to officially designate both side roads as safe and suitable for golf cart travel.”

That appears to be where the hold-up was.

Assistant County Engineer Mounir Bouyounes, who oversees the county public works departments, wrote in a recent email to a resident of the area that the county had taken several steps to get the crossing approved.

While the homeowners associations in Spruce Creek South and Stonecrest gave their respective blessing as far as the use of the side roads was concerned, the association representing neighboring commercial property owners balked, Bouyounes noted.

Those landowners announced that golf carts would be green-lighted if the county took over the roads, he said.

In response, according to Bouyounes, the County Commission had to consider a second ordinance to assume ownership of the roads within the Stonecrest Business Center.

Along with that step, the board had to establish a special tax district to pay for future maintenance of the side streets so that cost is not passed on to the general public, he added.

That happened on Tuesday, when the commission voted unanimously for the tax district.

The rates paid by the property owners will be determined at a future hearing.

Bouyounes added that lawyers for both sides must review the transfer documents and submit them to the commission for final approval.

Once that is completed, that file will be shipped to FDOT its backing to designate the crossing.

Bouyounes said he couldn't say how much longer that might take.

“It is all contingent on obtaining the transfer documents properly approved by the POA (commercial property owners association) which is a private entity with no County oversight nor control.”

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